Joel Hokka / Blind Channel - ENEMIES WITH BENEFITS (English)

20 - make up, make out, I mean-

"Are you sure you don't want me to come upstairs with you?" Joonas asked and carefully placed his hand on my shoulder. We were standing infront of the apartment complex Aleksi and I were living in and as much as it scared the shit out of me to face the dark haired one, I could not run from it forever.

I had spent the past few days at Joonas' place and this man really did everything he could to distract me to make me feel better. He forced me to learn some more Finish, he watched the cheesiest movies with me but most importantly he offered me hugs and cuddles when I needed them. Joonas' emotional support had helped me immensely to deal with the whole situation but now it was time I took matters into my own hands.

"No, it's alright Joonas. You already did enough. Thank you." I pulled him into a long, tight hug before it was time to say goodbye and return back to the familiar walls of Aleksi's apartment.

My heart skipped a beat once I turned the key and opened the door. Everything was quiet but once I saw Aleksi's keychain dangling from the hook that was attached to the wall next to the door, I knew I wasn't alone. My first reaction was to call for the black haired one but somehow I couldn't make a sound. I was just too afraid of how he would react once he saw me again.

I slowly put one foot infront of another until I reached the end of the hallway. And that's when I spotted him.

Aleksi was placidly sitting at the dining table, eating what seemed to be cereal out of a tiny bowl. Not noticing that I had entered the room, he picked up his phone from the table and stared at the screen.

Aleksi looked so calm, so normal. But the last evening the two of us had spent together left visable traces.

I could see that his knuckles were marked by yellow and green bruises, probably from when the younger one hit Joel's cheek. But that wasn't the only remain of the night everything went downhill. Countless empty beer bottles were spreaded all around the kitchen, it smelled kind of awful in here. Aleksi had never been the one that turned to alcohol to numb his feelings, until now apparently.

And there was another thing that catched my eye. My shirt. The black and purple tie dye shirt was hanging over one of the kitchen chairs, which meant Aleksi's one night stand had returned to his apartment at least one more time while I had been staying at Joonas' place. Maybe that blonde girl wasn't a one night stand to him anymore.

"Hey there." I forced myself to a friendly smile while slowly stepping closer, afraid of how the black haired one would react. My voice cracked at the attempt of getting out these few simple words. "Oh, hey. Where have you been?" Aleksi looked up from his phone. I was frightened by the look in his eyes, that indicated he didn't get a lot of sleep the past couple days. Aleksi was looking really tired. I felt so bad seeing him sitting infront of me like that.

"I was staying at Joonas' place for a bit. I figured you needed some space..." Somehow our exchange of words felt really akward. No one of us really knew what to say to the other one. No one of us knew how to bring up the events that occured a few nights ago. That night had changed everything for the worse as it seemed.

"Aleksi are you okay?" I blurted out and looked at him in concern. "I don't know. How do you think I feel after what happened outside that bar the other night? First you tell me that you don't have feelings for me and then this... I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into with him." He responded calmy yet I could see a glimpse of hurt in his eyes, an emotion that he most definitely didn't want me to see he was still experiencing. But of course I saw how much he was hurting, I knew my friend too well.

"About that... I am so sorry for what Joel did, for what I did. Listen I can totally understand why you punched him in the face after what he said to you, honestly I would have done the same thing." I tried to reassure Aleksi to let him know that he didn't have to feel guilty for what he did. Joel had probably already forgotten about the whole thing. This man didn't care about anything, he was completely emotionless.